August 4 REPORT LETTER FROM GLORIA

Bev and I met at the Salt Lake airport and picked up our rental car. We wanted a Dodge Caliber, but were informed that although they are advertised on the internet and Bob reserved one for us, they "don't have them there." So, we settled on a Toyota Corolla, which we could upgrade for $100 more a day to a larger vehicle. We said, no we'll stick to the Corolla - cheaper rate, better gas mileage, being frugal we two were. So, ready to sign the contract and the clerk said she upgraded us to a larger vehicle at no charge! We tried to get the Corolla because of the better gas mileage, but we were told, sorry, we don't have any available. But, she tried to get us to pay $100 more to get the car she ended up giving us at no extra charge. Amazing. We got a brand new Ford Focus SUV with 176 miles on it. It did handle nicely and did comparably well with the gas mileage to what we would have gotten on the Corolla.

So ... We're off. Beverly pointed out spots of interest on the way, and I'm sure glad she knew where she was going, because we were a long way from nowhere. We arrived at Lynn's as scheduled and it was sure good to see her. She and Joe have a very nice home. We relaxed for the evening and chose our bedrooms. Bev's was blue and mine was yellow.

The next day we removed a flower bed for Lynn that was giving her fits when it needed to be weeded. It was pretty windy that day, nice temperature (during the entire trip the weather was great), but the bugs were flying. They have grown to love me, so I used the bug spray and so did Beverly. We had lunch out in the yard before starting the gardening. Nice sandwiches and chips. Lynn's 2 dogs joined in on the lunch, but not the work.

After we had all the flowers removed we loaded the plants into the back of Joe's old Las Vegas pickup truck and drove them to a spot down by the gate of their property and dumped them. We then drove to the creek and shoveled dirt into the back of the truck to take back to the yard to level out the garden area and then Bev and I shoveled it again into the wheelbarrow and dumped it. We were 3 filthy females at the end of that day!

Sunday we helped with some housework. Lynn made a family favorite, chess pie. We drove to The Place for dinner for Father's Day for Joe and Beverly's treat to him. We got rained on going and coming. Everyone had ribeye steak which was enjoyed by all that ate it. I had a really good baked potato and salad. The best baked potato I've had in a long time.

The next morning we were off early to Jackson and Lynn had a doctors appointment where she got some good news about the chemo she is on now, which is a lot more aggressive than the last treatment she was having. She dropped Bev and I off in town and we walked the square, doing a little window shopping.

Lynn picked us up and we went to get Virginia for lunch - Beverly's aunt. We went to the Snow King restaurant, which is located near the ski lift. It was very nice and we almost had the place to ourselves. After lunch we drove to Jenny Lake and took a boat ride across the lake. Lynn had never been there before. Bev and I hiked up to some falls while Lynn and Virginia stayed below and visited. What a lot of people there were. It was a very nice day and we stopped on the way and saw a little old church that has been there for decades and is still a functioning church. We had a nice dinner and got ready for Tuesday.

Lynn took Bev and I with her to her mixed media group. All the women were very friendly and it was a nice day. While the painters were at work we took a hike with the dogs. We tried to hike to a mountain lake, but didn't find it. I thought we had gone far enough to be there, or at least see it, and Beverly thought we needed to go farther. It was good to get out and tramp through the woods again. Haven't done that in a long time.

Wednesday was another relaxing day. I went for a walk in the morning to the gate and the dogs left the house with me and were soon taking their own walk in their own direction. In the afternoon Lynn did some weeding in her berry patch and I ran the gas powered weed eater and cleared an area near one of the outbuildings.

I talked to Bob in the evening and found that he intended to go to California and see about buying a motorcycle (which I'm glad he decided to not buy) and he planned to visit with old friends. I think it was a good thing for him to go and have some R&R. I did my packing for our trip so I wouldn't be scrambling tomorrow.

Yellowstone, here we come! We were up early and packed some things from home for lunches so we could picnic along the way.Lynn and Bev were nice enough to backtrack over a lot of country they have seen before to show it to me. We saw Mesa Falls in Idaho, near the Wyoming border - and just let me say - all of the spots we stopped at and drove by were outstanding. Beautiful, natural wonders that I was very fortunate to see. My tour guides had never been to Mesa Falls, so that was a treat for them also. We picnicked for lunch that day with things we brought from Lynn's and a stop at the store in Pinedale.

After Mesa Falls we drove on to West Yellowstone and spent our first night there. What a night! We had a nice dinner at Bulllwinkles, of all places, and walked around the town and did a little shopping. When we returned to the motel Lynn was fortunate enough to zonk out pretty well, while Bev and I stayed up listening to the track team run their sprints in the hallway above our room and the key to start the race must have been the slamming of doors. Around 11:00 I called the front desk and told them what was going on and asked them to see if they could quiet things down. Now, we were on the 2nd floor and this was happening on the 3rd floor. However, the desk clerk stated that, "she couldn't hear anything!" But, around 11:30 things did quiet down.

Next morning we were up bright and early to an unimpressive continental breakfast served by the hotel. Off we went into Yellowstone. My age and I've never been there before. The devastation from the 1988 fires is still quite evident, but because so much of the forest was burned it opened up the landscape so the mountains and surrounding terrain could be enjoyed and the view wasn't blocked by the forest of trees. We saw a lot of wonderful things that day, steam vents and hot springs and many water falls. We saw buffalo, elk, moose, deer during the trip - some quite close. The planned trip took us on a big loop to the north and then back south and out the south entrance. Our second night was in Gardiner, Montana at the north entrance. We had Italian for dinner that night and we all had slight tummy aches, we thought from the food being so rich or to much acid from the sauces.

The driving on the third day of the trip provided places quite different from the first day in the park. Still so many waterfalls and sulfur hot springs. We were heading to Yellowstone Lake and stopped on the Yellowstone River for another picnic lunch. This time we at lunch on a log by the river and had Subway sandwiches we got before we left town in the morning. What a pretty setting. We drove on to Yellowstone Lake. It's huge. We stopped at the Yellowstone Hotel and it had wonderful etched glass partitions and doors depicting animals and scenes from nature.

Exiting the south entrance to Yellowstone our driving took us on into Teton National Park where we saw Jakson Lake and the Jackson Lake Lodge where we had some refreshment at their old time soda/cafeteria counter. We headed toward home and in Pinedale Lynn showed us some of the medical and care facilities in the area and the towns aquatic center which looked quite swanky. If I remember right, there are 2 olympic size pools and 2 ordinary (HA!) pools with sports courts and a rock climbing wall available. It is really grand.

We arrived at Lynn's about 9, unloaded the car, let lots of mosquitos in Lynn's house which I did my best to annihilate! The only good mosquito is a dead mosquito!

Sunday we did some laundry and housecleaning and Lynn packed us a picnic lunch and we went to Big Sandy Lodge and picnicked on the river with the puppy dogs. Very peaceful. Little fish jumping in the river, a nice breeze. The bugs weren't to bad. The dogs liked getting in the river, but it was pretty cold. We did some exploring and looking at the enormous balanced rocks that are so interesting. They are propped in position with smaller rocks holding them from underneath so they stay in position. Lynn has observed these over the years and noticed they mostly all are situated on an elevated area overlooking a valley or meadow. Quite interesting to see these and speculate what they might have been used for. They all seem to be facing the same direction and many are positioned so that the flat of the boulder is on top.

This evening we looked at old photos and tried to figure out who everyone was. We think we did pretty well, even though we did have to use a magnifying glass for some of the pictures. Lynn is still working on her book and the pictures we were looking at were from our cousin, Maryann. Lynn wants to use some of them in her book. As we were looking at them, most of them from when our dad's family was younger, we noticed that many pictures were from Yellowstone and were pictures of the same landmarks we had just visited and were taken from the same photo spots where we had just stood. How amazing is that? I said, gee, we could have just looked at this album, saved a lot of money, and seen everything we just saw by looking at the photo album. But, in person, is really the best way, of course.

I did most of my packing because Beverly and I are leaving in the morning to return home.We said good-byes and left Lynn's about 8:15. Me being me, I wanted to make sure we arrived back in Salt Lake in plenty of time to return the rental car and be at the airport ahead of time. How's about 2 1/2 hours ahead of time and already at the gate - waiting. Beverly kept saying we didn't need to leave so early. She had a longer wait than I did - leaving about 2 1/2 hours after I did. I was home before she even departed Salt Lake. Sorry Bev!

Bob picked me up at 6 and it was sure good to see him. We went out for a chinese dinner and visited for a couple of hours and got home about 8:30.Tried to consolidate this so it wouldn't be to lengthy but it doesn't look like I succeeded.I had to go to work the next day, Tuesday, so I didn't even fully unpack until Wednesday evening.

Thursday I had a doctors appointment for my 6 month pap test (Gloria also had a cancer scare with endrometrial cancer) and then I went to work for a few hours and got a call from Glory while I was at work that she and 4 of the girls were coming for the weekend. Of course the house was a mess and I had planned to clean it, which is what Bob and I did Friday morning. We started Friday morning about 6:30 were finished by 8:00. What a difference a clean house makes.

Glory arrived with her girls, exhausted and in the midst of heat stroke about 3:30 in the afternoon. No air-conditioning in their van and Glory evidently forgot how hot the desert gets in the middle of the day in the middle of summer. They brought their things in and we headed for the pool so they could all cool off. We had tacos and tamale pie for dinner. She had planned to go to Donna's the next day for Scott's baptism, but without air she decided against doing that. I was traveled out, from going to Vegas, then Oakland and then Wyoming so Bob and I had decided not to go to the baptism. So, we had a nice day here and after a morning shopping trip to the big Walmart!, we had lunch and went to the movie here and saw Mamma Mia. What a fun movie! I have to get the CD/Soundtrack.

It was Chesnie's birthday. She turned 8. So after dinner we had cake and she opened presents. Glory was up early with the kids and on the road about 6:15 to see Donna and family. Summer, Glory's daughter, had to be back to work on Monday in Vegas, so they set off early. It was so good to see them, even though the visit was short. The kids are always fun to have here and very nice young ladies.So, that's my life for the last few weeks. I really enjoyed the Wyoming trip and spending time with Lynn and Joe and Beverly and the sweet dogs - Sparky and Raven. I think they liked me a little. I'll bet, though, that they like anyone that gives them some attention.